Chitty Chitty Bang Bang backfired for young actress

As the delicate blonde child star of the 1960s hit film Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, she will be for ever associated with the world’s most famous flying car. But, instead of launching the eight-year-old Heather Ripley into stardom, it turned her against show business and into a bit of a hippy. Despite her screen association with a remarkable vehicle, she became a protester against, among other things, roads - reports The Times.

Yesterday Ripley, now 46, an unemployed single mother of two and former peace and anti-roads campaigner, was fined £175 and given four penalty points after admitting driving without a licence.

Ripley, who played Jemima, the daughter of Caractacus Potts, Dick Van Dyke’s character in the 1968 musical, admitted the charges and said that her application for a driving licence had got “lost in the post”.

Her address was given as the Findhorn Foundation, in Moray, an alternative commune in the north of Scotland.

Perth Sheriff Court gave her permission to pay the fine at £5 per fortnight after her solicitor explained that she was living on weekly state benefits of £55.

Ripley had six penalty points on her licence when she was spotted by police driving erratically on the A9 outside Perth in December 2004, the court was told. Officers pulled her over and, after routine checks, discovered that she had previously been banned from driving. The ban had expired, but she had not reapplied for a licence.

Mike Tavendale, for the defence, said: “She had sent off for a new licence, but the application had become lost in the post. She hadn’t appreciated she should not have driven until the licence was actually received by her.”

Ripley shot to fame in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang after she was spotted by a talent scout at Dundee Rep theatre, where her mother was wardrobe mistress.MGM plucked her out of primary school and whisked her down to London, with her mother as chaperone, where she spent 14 months filming at Pinewood Studios and on location in France and Bavaria.

For her part in the movie she was paid only £7,500, which was held in trust until her 18th birthday. But she soon abandoned acting and avoided any association with the film. Instead she blamed it for most of the problems in her life, including the break-up of her parents’ marriage. After running away from home at 16 and working as a waitress in London, she dropped out to become an anti-road and peace campaigner and travelled the country for several years with her two children, Cosmo, now 17, and Josie, 14. They persuaded her to settle down at Findhorn, a registered charity and educational and spiritual retreat. In recent years she has made cautious moves towards relaunching her acting career.

Yesterday Sheriff Robert McCreadie initially banned her from driving for 12 months, but overturned his decision after being told he could only impose penalty points. Ripley left court without commenting.

FANTASTIC FLYING MACHINE

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang has been likened to a children’s James Bond : it was written by Ian Fleming, the Bond creator, and produced by Albert R. Broccoli, producer of the Bond films

The film script was by Roald Dahl, with songs by the Sherman Brothers, who also wrote for Mary Poppins and The Jungle Book

Dick Van Dyke was banned from Disney films for several years after the film’s 1968 release because he claimed that it would “out-Disney Disney”

Chitty was the last film for Sally Ann Howes, who played Truly Scrumptious and who had herself been a child star. She subsequently gave up acting and concentrated on a singing career

The car’s name was taken from a pair of celebrated 1920s racing cars

In 2002 the 2,000-strong audience at the London Palladium was sent home when an early performance of the stage adaptation was cancelled because of a technical hitch that stopped the mechanical Chitty from “flying” over the stalls

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